Particle accelerators are used to increase the energy of electrically-charged atomic particles, e.g., electrons, protons, or charged atomic nuclei, so that they can be studied by nuclear and particle physicists. High energy electrically-charged atomic particles are accelerated to collide with target atoms, and the resulting products are observed with a detector. At very high energies the charged particles can break up the nuclei of the target atoms and interact with other particles. Transformations are produced that tip off the nature and behavior of fundamental units of matter. Particle accelerators are also important tools in the effort to develop nuclear fusion devices, as well as for medical applications such as cancer therapy.
There is a need for improved linear accelerator architectures and constructions which produce the high voltage pulse gradients in a compact structure to enable the generation, acceleration, and control of accelerated particles in a compact unit. In particular, it is highly desirable to incorporate high dielectic constant materials that enable propagation of electrical wavefronts in compact Blumlein-based linear accelerators to generate the high voltage pulse gradients.